The Portland daily press., 1887-08-16
MIR. PARN ELL.
The Silent, Mysterious Champion of
the Irish Cause.
New York Timesl


Mr.. Parnell, almost alone of the eight not
able men who stand in the first rank of the
Irish Parliamentary Party, can scarcely be
said to explain his greatness to the observer,
either by his speech or his appearance His
personality and his power alike remain a
mystery to those who see him most closely.
There is nothing specially impressive about
his face. 1t is delicate without being either
nervous or handsome, and there is no sign of
great strength or depth in its bright eyes, its
thin nose, or its small mouth. His voice is
high pitched and rather feminine in its into
nation, with no suggestion of magnetism in
fibre. He seems to have no marked faculty
for remembering names or faces. He has no
particular friendships inside his party, and
very few acquaintance in Parliament or out.
side of it. He is affabie to people introduced
to him. and rarely gives them the impression
that he is reticent 1t has passed into PROV
erb that he Is reticent, and dare say il NAV
be the case, but have heard him a score of
times talk with apparently the utmost free
dom on every subject that came up, no mat
ter now delicate 1t was. He is, at least out
wardly, cold man, not given TO show inter
est in things-and this has bred the notion
doubtless, that he is secretve. The defer.
has no close parallel anywhere within my
knowledge Perhaps the nearest political
| approach to IL was to be found in New York
| State ten years ago, in the attitude of the
| Stalwart henchmen toward Roscoe Conkljng
| but tbs points of difference are many Conk.
| ling was dramatic and imperious, and Par
| nell is neither; the Stalwarts followed The
| Senator in part from personal liking. in part
| from personal fear, while the Irish mem bers
| have little deep personal feeling toward Their
| chief one way or the other. Most nearly he
rules them as an emOtionless archbishop
might rule the priests of a province. He Is
the embodiment of authority a being to be
obeyed. to be salaamed 10, to be Addressed
with ceremOnious defeIence.gye who must in
turn keep up all the ,adignities of his high
| post. must have Aastavorltes, must be urbane
and g0lIteua9d considerable, and must be al
once apprOachable and solitary. 1t is really
I the Catholic training and instincts of the
Irish members, fancy, which have deve
| oped this curious hierarchal relation, and i
| is not made the less interesting by the fac
| that their Prinlate is Protestant.
| The clerical parallel | have been led int,
suggests a droll illustration. When coed OLE
| Joseph Biggar first conceived the idea of OBJ
| struction as policy, and began practicing i
alone, White the dry bones Of Isaac Butts in
! animate party ratified about him, there cam,
finally to his aid diffident, hesitating youn.
! gentleman from Wicklow, whom Biggar wa
wont to familiarly call "Char-less,' as tn,
| Irish pronunciation of Charles runs. Tha
| was ten years ago, and Char-ess, mean
| while, has become the great political force ol
| Ireland, and Biggar now calls him "Misthel
| ParnT' like the others. 1t is as an old prizes
| who had been chum with Archbishop Cor
| risai IN the days when he was very possibly
plain Mickey, would now gravely bow ant
/ saw "Ynur Grace -